Inbreak

Inbreak is a horror action story, jam packed with battles. Read it like you would watch an action movie. It's a tad dark, lots of people die, and it's an easy read. Comments are appreciated.

The book is separated into 2 Acts, each act consisting of five chapters, as well as a short prologue, a short intermission, and a short epilogue. There's a narrative twist, each person speaks in a different color, it's insane and you'll have to read it to find out what I'm talking about.

Chapters:

Travelling
with an insane boy, brainwashed by violence, and a slightly less
insane Keeper, hardened and emotionless, was more trying then I
had once expected. But, I told myself, it was to find The
Professor. I huddled downstairs like the useless little girl I
was. I felt cold, alone and afraid. To tell the truth, I was all
of those things. But I tried to comfort myself.

I wasn't
useless. I had saved The Human Lands almost single handedly!
Still, though, it made me miss that nice other girl who had saved
the town. She was at least sane. She was good company. Unlike the
guy that had pointed the sword to my throat.

The Keeper
was nice, though. He looked after me and protected me. I related
to him more than the person who had took my only means of defense
and threatened my life… though I supposed hedidsave it
first.

My first
sign that something was wrong was the constant sounds of battle
than resonated from the top floor. A never ending spray of
bullets came from over head, with the occasional sword swipe
taking a few out. A heard crashing and smashing, and hoped that
they were alright. Despite not liking the boy, I still needed
him. The Keeper, I both liked and needed. I don't mean to say I
only hoped that they would survive because I needed them, but
they would be important if I were to get out of this
alive.

When the
sounds of violence dissipated, I heard a long period of silence.
I was thinking of my Professor, where he might be, how I might
find him, when I heard the creaking of a metal door opening. I
thought back to my childhood.

The
Professorhad always
had a room upstairs which was used to carry materials that I
wasn't supposed to use. He had sealed it with a metal door. Is it
possible that he fled the house, and that when zombies invaded
they could have gotten into the dangerous materials he kept in
that room, and then been mutated?

It was a
long shot, and probably not true though. I was still trying to go
through scenarios to decide how these zombies were mutated. When
the sounds of battle resumed, I decided to help, even if that
meant prying back my friend's gun from that boy's hands. It
simply made no sense for them to be risking their lives while I
hide downstairs like a little girl! I was going to get that gun
back, even if just for a little bit.

I started
up the stairs quickly, hoping they were still alive. I was a bit
startled to see The Keeper coming down the stairs from the other
way."The idiot
released a bunch of super zombies! We need to run!"

"Hold on,
is he still in there!? We need to get him!"

"NO! NO WE
NEED TO RUN! I know when to stand my ground, and I know when to
flee, AND THIS SEEMS LIKE A REALLY GOOD TIME TO FLEE!"

"But your
motto-"

"Screw the
motto, let's go!"

I sighed.
"He… he did save my life you know."

"Did you
miss the part where he then threatened you immediately
afterwards!?"

"Look," I
said, approaching him and looking up at his eyes. He was almost a
foot taller than me and it was hard to get a good look at him.
"YOU may be too scared to go after him and stop his death, but
I'm not."

"That's
suicide! You don't even have a weapon!"

"I don't.
You do."

"I'm not
giving you my freaking gun! It won't work on vampire zombies, and
those things in there look evenWORSEthan
vampire zombies!"

"You said
you'd protect me. And I think that if I were to walk into a storm
of zombies, then you would be forced to protect me,
right?"

"THIS IS
BLACKMAIL!"

"C'mon,
before it's too late!"

I hurried
down the hall to the source of the conflict, leaping over the
messy remains of the dozens of dead zombies which now littered
the ground. I was defenseless at the moment, but that wouldn't
mean that I couldn't help.

As I ran
down the hallway, I thought about how I was saved, barely
conscious, from that monstrosity in the shop. I think it's time
to return the favor.

I slid into
the room, as the musty smell overwhelmed my senses. A great metal
door, one that I hadn't seen before when I lived with my
professor, was broken open on its hinges. I heard clanging,
smashing and squishing coming from the inside.
"IS THAT THE BEST YOU'VE GOT!?"came the
boy's half-crazed yell over the sounds of violence that resonated
from the inside of the room.

"Don't you
see? He inflicted this upon himself! Let's get out of
here!"

"And leave
him to die!? I don't know about you, but I can't live with that
on my conscience."

"Oh God…
we're going to die. You're going to kill all of three of
us."

"What, you
gonna turn tail and hide? I am an unarmed woman. The only zombie
I've ever seen has been on television. I'm a doctor, not a zombie
killer, and yet I have more drive than you to save this
man!"

He splurged
out random words through barely concealed rage, until he mumbled
something under his breath and spoke again.

"You don't
have to! But we need to stop discussing, and start
helping!"

The Keeper
nodded. I had convinced him. We leaped into the room and saw the
boy with dozens of dead zombies around him. I gagged, the smell
being even worse in here. The boy was currently wrapped up in a
fight with five vampire zombies, miraculously still alive, though
not for long.

A single
vampire zombie had nearly killed me, and murdered two Keepers.
Yet this boy was keeping them at bay- albeit, barely. The Keeper
was instantly pounced on by a huge, vicious zombie with snapping
teeth. The boy drew his gun to fire at a nearby flying zombie-
one with horrible bat wings. I had no idea how these things
could've been created, but one thing was for sure: this wasn't a
natural mutation.

These
things were twisted to become better killing machines, better
than the average zombies. Whatever the reason, I didn't have time
to think. "GIVE ME THE GUN!"I yelled to the boy, across the
room.

"SO YOU CAN
KILL ME THE NEXT CHANCE YOU GET!? NO! I'D RATHER GET KILLED BY
THE ZOMBIES THEN GIVE YOU THE SATISFACTION!"Why the
hell was he so paranoid!? Before he could dodge another lunge, he
was slammed against the wall, sending the entire wooden frame
rattling up and down. He groaned and as he did the vampire
zombies descended upon him.

Suddenly,
from outside my line of sight, The Keeper jumped in with his arms
outstretched. He pried off one zombie and threw him out of the
way. I rushed up to get a better view and kicked one who had
scraped the punk's face with his fang. I hoped that it wasn't
contagious from the tooth, but it was impossible to be
sure.

As I pried
one off, it pounced at me, pulling me to the ground. For a
moment, my life flashed before my eyes as its head reared back,
ready to strike. And then I was saved, The Keeper coming to my
rescue again with a swift boot the stomach. He took out his
hunting knife and decapitated the zombie. We both rushed to
punk's aid, trying to hurry him out of the room as the zombies
closed in on us. He was woozy after getting knocked to the
ground, but still functional.

He steadied
himself as we gave him support, saying he didn't need our help
and that he could handle the rest himself. We ignored him, making
our way outside. The remaining zombies chased after us.

They were
running, and we were slowed by the burden of the boy. We weren't
going to make it. For both of us, carrying him would mean our
death; all of our deaths. A horrible thought went through my
mind: throw the boy to the zombies. It was the only way to
survi-

What the
hell am I thinking!? I may be about to die, but at least I can
say that when the going got tough I didn't resort to murder. The
Keeper was no doubt thinking the same thing, and might have
thrown him to the zombies if I hadn't given him an angry glare.
Controlling a Keeper: weird.

We hurried
down the stairs, the racing of a dozen undead footsteps in hot
pursuit. Our legs ached but we pushed through the pain, running
faster and harder than we had ever in our lives. In desperation,
The Keeper flung his helmet at the super zombies, knowing it
wouldn't be much use against the powerful jaws of one super
zombie with a large shark head. The helmet tripped up some
zombies, but most were completely unaffected, such as the flying
ones.

As I looked
at The Keeper's face, I noticed something nice for a change:
underneath that helmet lay a thick set of dark hair which spread
over his eyes. He was quite handsome, which was something I never
noticed before with his helm over his eyes; odd that I was taking
so much notice to it though, what with the imminent death
approaching.

I felt a
hand almost grab my collar, scraping the back of my neck
narrowly. I gasped, flinging it away and pushing myself forwards.
We came to the large room where we had entered: the room with the
large pane glass window and the heap of human flesh, as if
disassembled tactically. My professor wasn't here, and now we
were all going to die. The boy had dropped his sword when he was
knocked to the ground, and his gun on the run to this room. Now
he was as defenseless as I was. Heh. Funny how things turned out,
eh? And here I was thinking the irony would be lost on me just
because I was about to get ripped apart by a thousand prying
teeth.

We wanted
to run out the door, but the zombies quickly blocked off that
exit. We were completely and utterly trapped now, no escape, no
possible way of success."Well,"said The
Keeper, rubbing his forehead to get his sweaty, matted hair out
of his face,"Why don't
we go out fighting?"

The zombies
closed in on us."Be-because
we don't have any weapons left. And your gun is useless,
moron,"spurted the
boy who was now writhing from the fang mark on his cheek. It
looked like the fang's scratch was poisonous after all, but
probably not fatal. It was a miracle he managed to fend off all
those zombies for more than a few seconds and only get a
scratch.

"You want
to go- go out fighting?"he said,
readying his fists."Lez go out
fighting."He spoke as
if drunk, swaying from side to side. In the time it took him to
say those few words, we were already surrounded by zombies. The
Keeper put his gun in front of himself and began firing, hopeless
bullets into an endless crowd. A tear trickled down my face which
erupted suddenly into a sob. I would never see my professor
again. I was going to die.

And
suddenly, just as I thought that, I heard the creaking of a door
opening."Get
in!"said a far
away, wheezing voice from behind the zombie horde."Quick!"

On the
road to Town A, 10 hours after Inbreak, 4:52PM, The First
Guy

The poison
from the scratch on my cheek was working its way through my body,
but it seemed as if it was simply numbing me instead of
transforming me. While a regular zombie's bite is meant to
transfer the disease, it would appear as if the vampire zombie's
bite is meant to make the victim easier to catch.

We learned
in class that the zombie was basically the incarnate of a virus:
kill, infect, and repeat. But these zombies weren't created to
spread the virus. They were made to kill, and kill is what they
did. Already I could feel myself slowing down. It wouldn't kill
me; it would just make me an easier target for the super
zombies.

Just then,
I heard a door creak open, a voice call out from the distance.
The voice sounded like it belonged to an extremely old man, or at
least someone who's not the personification of health. I payed it
no mind; this would be my final moment. The moment where I take
out as many zombies as I can right as I die, just like Ivanis
Cravalok did in his last movie. This is my time to shine.

The zombies
swarmed us. I punched one right in the face as hard as I could.
It barely reacted, and responded by throttling me against the
pane glass window. It slammed me once into it, then twice into it
until I heard the glass breaking. Then it dug its teeth into my
flesh.

"I'LL KILL
YOU!" I screamed, giving it a hook to the face again. It barely
reacted. The other's, smelling blood, swarmed towards me. I felt
another bite into my shoulder and another into my knee. My entire
body was surrounded by teeth. Surrounded by pain. My arm might
have fallen off, I wouldn't know. My leg might be broken, I don't
know.

As the
zombies thrust me against the window again, it broke. I fell out
with every zombie in the room on top of me. My first thought was
at least when I died, two others died with me. However, out of
the corner of my eye, over a zombie digging into my head, over
three bat wings that hovered over me, over six decaying corpses,
I saw The Keeper and the woman were escaping.

The zombies
had all came for me so-

So-

Ghk.

On the
road to Town A, 10 hours after Inbreak, 4:53PM, The
Keeper

I shouldn't
be crying. I am a forty year old man. I am a Keeper. I must not
cry.

And yet a
kept becoming overwhelmed with emotions as I left the boy to die.
Failure. Loser. Can't protect a life. Outshined by civilians.
Outshined bychildren.
Blech.

Though I
couldn't ignore the facts. The zombies were out of the way. The
boy was dead- if not dead now, he would be in a few seconds. And
if we didn't move soon they would be back.

An old man
wearing glasses was standing next to a metal door, like the one
that held the zombies, motioning for us to enter the room he was
in. The Doctor became overjoyed for some reason and ran towards
the door, seemingly not noticing the demise of the punk. She
didn't see him fall out the window; she heard the crash, but she
didn't see. Now, there was only one vampire zombie left, one that
didn't go out the window.

And he was
standing between us and the doorway. I picked up my gun from off
of the ground and rammed into it, sending it backwards. I had no
hunting knife, and I was prepared to do what I had to do. I
positioned my hands on its head and began to heave
upwards.

For a
moment, it looked at me with a stupefied grin as it snapped its
teeth idiotically at me. Then I heard a snapping, followed by a
ripping, followed by an enormous tear. I was holding the vampire
zombie's head in my hands and The Doctor and entered the room
with the mysterious man(author's
note: I WONDER WHO THE MYSTERIOUS MAN IS. IT COULD BE
AAAAAANYBODY! Yeah, The Keeper's not the brightest guy around.
Gotta give him credit though, he can rip off a zombie's head
pretty well)

I ran
towards the door, but felt something grab my foot. The super
zombies were back. One clambered through the window, its mouth
filled with the blood of the boy I didn't protect. Another, its
misshapen jaws snapped open, had a bone dangling out of its
mouth. I knew whose bone it belonged to. I gagged. I tried to
free myself from the grip of the zombies, but I was getting
overwhelmed. I began to drag myself towards the door, and reached
out my hand. I thought I had done it in vain, but to my luck The
Doctor grabbed my hand and pulled me in at the last second. I
heard a loud slam of the metal door and a sealing sound.
Immediately, I heard pounding on the door."Quickly.
Follow my voice."The zombie
smell hadn't gotten better, even though we had put some distance
between us and the zombies. Though, at this point I probably
smelled more like zombie than this old man did, so I wasn't one
to judge.

We followed
him through twists, turns and dark rooms. We were all running,
until we got to another room with a good amount of lighting, a
few chairs and test tubes scattered everywhere. The old man
finally turned around and I could see his face: a balding old man
with large bags under his eyes, a pair of spectacles that were
broken and strapped to his face, and a large smile on his face,
fondly regarding The Doctor for some reason.

The Doctor
and the old man looked at each other for a few moments until he
finally whispered:"Welcome
home."The Doctor
began to sob again, and threw her arms around the old man. I
don't know how she managed to though; he smelt terrible. But it
seemed as though they were having a moment, so I let it
pass.

"Guys,"she said as
if the punk was still here, "This is my
professor."

So he was
alive after all! Tears of joy fell from her face, but her smile
dispersed a bit when she looked beside me, noticing the punk was
not here."Where…
where's that boy?"she said,
with her tone suddenly dropping. She knew, somewhere in the back
of her mind, what had happened. It looked like she was trying to
suppress it. "He..." I started. "He… he didn't…" Her expression
had dramatically gone down, and began sobbing again. I couldn't
let her be so sad over the death of that jerk that put a sword to
her throat. I wouldn't.

"He- He
didn't come with us. He said that he'd lead the zombies away from
us, and get home safely. I didn't see all of it, but I noticed
that he had a large head start on the zombies."

"WHAT!? And
we didn't go after him!? I'm sorry Professor, I'll be back right
away. Do you have any weapon? We need to leave!"

Oh
no.

"No! No,
there's no need for that. He said… er, he said not to follow
him!"

"He said…
he said that the scratch would make him immune to attracting
zombies! Because he has the scent of the undead on him! And
besides, the other Keepers are probably already here, right?
Chances are a million to one that he won't run into at least one
of them! So, what's the point in risking out lives for that punk
anyways? C'mon, he's fine. I promise." I gave her a reassuring
smile, which was somewhat twitching due to the overwhelming
lie.

She looked
at me and sighed."Okay. If
you'resurehe's fine,
then I suppose there's no use in running after him."She turned
to her professor and began speaking to the professor."I'm afraid
we have to reunite under such… circumstances, my dear,"he said in
a ratty voice."And I see
you've brought a friend?"

"Yes, he's
a Keeper. He's been protecting me. Watching over me."

"A Keeper,
eh? Why is he here?"

"More
importantly," I said, butting in to their conversation, "Where is
'here' anyways?"

We were in
a dingy study that smelled musty and terrible. There was a
bookshelf and few couches scattered around the room, a door
leading to an unknown room that was currently bolted shut and
another door leading back off from where we came. A filthy sofa
was propped up against a wall with an assortment of books
scattered on it.

"Excuse
me,"said the
old man, adjusting his spectacles."We are in
my private studies. My laboratory is just down the halls over
there, where I was hard at work."

"Hard at
work you say? During the middle of an inbreak!? Didn't you notice
the carnage and mayhem from outside!?"

"Stop being
so hostile!"said the
Doctor, jumping in front of us. She hugged her professor
again."He is a
man of work, and this lab is sound proof so that he's not
disturbed while researching and experimenting. He wouldn't hear
anything that's been going on."

"…which
bring me back to my first point. What is this Keeper doing
here?"

"The
Siren," I replied bluntly. "Your 'daughter' here rang The Siren,
but I suppose you wouldn't have heard that in the safety of your
lab, eh?"

The woman
glared at me and I decided to be less hostile, especially after
all the good things she said about him. I turned back to
apologize for my hostility, but noticed that he seemed upset for
some reason. When I apologized he waved me off and sat down. The
woman kneeled down to his side."What's
wrong professor?"

"Nothing my
sweet, nothing. Are you sure the door is closed?"

"Yes, it's
closed. The zombies won't get in, don't you worry."The
professor smiled at the girl, but something seemed off about the
smile. Something not right. Nevertheless, I apologized. "Sorry
for my hostility before. It's just… I'm a bit stressed out right
now. But it looks like this place is secure. We have electricity,
and probably food if you could survive down here for this entire
ordeal. All we need to do is wait for the other Keepers to
arrive, and-"

"…what?"

"Hm? Is
there a problem?"

"No… no, of
course not."The
professor got up, paced around a bit and adjusted his spectacles
again. I decided to pry this a bit more: the subject was getting
him anxious, and I wanted to know why. No matter how much the
Doctor liked this man, I didn't. And I was going to find out
why.

On the
road to Town A, 10 hours after Inbreak, 4:58PM, The
Keeper

He was
alive. The man who had raised me from birth, who had saved my
life from zombies when my parents were killed, who had taught me
everything I knew, was alive. For a moment, everything was
alright. For a moment, I knew that we would be safe. But the
constant pounding of zombies on the metal door made me question
how long the metal gate would last. And the way The Keeper was
looking at my professor, I knew he didn't trust him yet.

Then again,
he didn't trust anyone at first. He immediately wanted to do the
opposite of everything that I did at first, andhatedthat boy
with the sword when they first met… though I don't suppose that
sword pointing at my neck did him any favors. I'm sure the Keeper
would warm up to him eventually.

"There's so
much to catch up on, Professor! What have you been up to since I
left?" The professor smiled and put his arm around me."I've
gotten so much done since you've been gone, but I've missed you
so much. I can't believe how long it's been. You're almost a
woman now, aren't you?"

"As much as
I love idle conversation, there's a zombie apocalypse going on
out there. We should find a hiding area in case the zombies break
down the door.""I wouldn't
worry about that,"said The
Professor."I can
assure you that I won't be in any danger."

"I wasn't
thinking of you, old man. Those zombies are- different. They can
rip through flesh, know exactly where to strike, some might even
be able to tear through my armor. And you know what?The highest
concentration of them was in the top floor of your
house.Respond to
that one."

"STOP!" I
screamed, getting in front of them again. I wouldn't let The
Keeper do anything to my professor after all this time, and that
included interrogations. "He obviously doesn't know about the
zombies in his house! He's been working hard on the lab ever
since this whole ordeal started! Isn't that right,
professor?"

"Well…
perhaps I should explain myself."

"Perhaps
you should. And just to let you know, if you had anything to do
with this little 'incident' then I will not hesitate to lock you
up for the rest of your short, miserable life."

"Professor,
it's okay. You don't have to-"

"No my
child, it's okay. This man has been quite aggressive about the
situation, and I find it only fitting to comply with what he
asks. Though, before I begin, may I ask that you both take a
seat?"

I sighed
and motioned for The Keeper to sit down. He was making this
harder then it needed to be, seeing as we just needed to wait
until the rest of The Keepers came, which should be in a few
minutes anyways. "Look, it's really okay. Those zombies could've
been in anybody's house."

"I know.
I'm sorry. I got a bit carried away there. Let's just wait for
the other Keepers to show up."

"…yes,
let's. Before they arrive, could I offer you some tea,
Mr.Keeper?"

"I'm good,
thanks,"he said
rudely. I buried my face in my hands, embarrassed for his
sake."So. Tell
me, how did you activate The Siren? The wire was cut."

"Yes, it
was quite a ride! You see, I had to- wait, how did you know the
wire was cut?"

"I… I saw
it from… I didn't."The Keeper
jumped up. This was the opportunity he was waiting for."I knew it!
I knew you were up to something! Explaineverythingright now,
or I swear to God I will riddle you with bullets!"

"Oh no you
don't," I yelled, trying to get between him and the professor. It
was too late though, as he already had his gun out, pointing
straight at the professor. He shoved me out of the way. "You're
jumping to conclusions! You have no proof!" He grimaced and
said"Part of
protecting you means that I need to point out things you're too
blind to see. You may not be able to put two and two together
right now because you love him too much, but I can. The highest
concentration of zombies in the affected inbreak area is in this
town. The highest concentration of zombies in this town is in
this house. And furthermore, all of these 'new breeds' of 'mutant
zombies' are held in one form or another upstairs! Besides, how
the hell did you know that the wire was cut!?"
He pointed the gun at the chest of my professor. "NO!" I yelled,
clawing at him helplessly. "NO! YOU
DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!
YOU IDIOT! YOU PARANOID FOOL!"He held me
back with one hand and pointed his weapon with the other."Start
talking."

"Hm. You
know, I never figured you for a smart one. You seemed a bit dim,
and you probably are, eh Mr.Keeper? Yet somehow, my prodigy over
there, the most brilliant woman in the entire Human Lands hasn't
figured it out yet, while a boorish oaf like you has. It shows
you what compassion can do to the human brain, eh? But I'm above
that now."

What? "What
are you talking about, professor? Please, put the gun down, let's
just wait a few minutes and we can sort this out when The Keepers
get here."

"I will
explain everything, though it won't matter to you, I'm sure. I've
been doing some… experiments recently. Experiments on the
undead."

I clasped a
hand to my mouth. "Oh my God…" I said. "Oh my God."

"I knew it.
You're the reason behind this, aren't you?Aren't
you!?"

"For the
love of God, please stop this!! Don't kill him!" I was crying
now. "He didn't mean to! It's not his fault, whatever it is! It
was an accident, or it got out of control, or-"

"I have a
feeling It was no accident,"said The
Keeper, jabbing his gun into my professor's stomach."Continue."

"I snuck
into the Dead Lands, and got a sample tissue of a zombie. I did
testing on the tissue, to try to see if I could find a
cure."

"DON'T YOU
SEE!? He didn't mean for any of this to happen! He was trying to
cure this plague, not spread it!"

"I did
rigorous testing, gene splicing, and applied scientific knowledge
that would make even the information we had before the first
zombies appeared pale in comparison. I got animal tissue and
tested the zombie gene on it. The disease did not spread to the
animal tissue. I knew that there was something to it. I would
need a sample. A human sample."

"I'm glad
you can be so honest with the person about to arrest you,"smiled The
Keeper triumphantly.

"Oh, it
won't matter in a few minutes. Where was I? Ah, yes. I tore off
some of my flesh and began testing. The flesh was not living, but
it was human and I was seeing some drastic improvements! I was
learning more information in a few hours then this entire
paranoid civilization had learnt in thirty years!"

"You idiot!
There's a reason we don't let people use samples of the zombies
virus! It's dangerous, wildly unpredictable, and possibly
airborne! Why the hell do you think we wear mouth
pieces!?"

"I realized
that the amount of information that I could achieve would
skyrocket if I could somehow have a living subject to study on.
But I knew that the gene was very rampant and would completely
overtake me if I used it on myself. So I did some morally
questionable things."

I couldn't
believe anything that was being said. I didn't want to. Part of
me thought he was lying, that this was all some big joke. Part of
me knew it wasn't.

"That's it,
we have you for more than just life in prison now. We're going to
stage a public execution for the endangerment of hundreds of
thousands of lives and kidnapping."

"No you're
not. And please, don't interrupt me while I'm telling a story.
You shouldn't interrupt old men while they're rambling,
especially when they've had nobody to tell their story to for so
long."

"You've
morbidly peeked my curiosity. I'm wondering what other heinous
crimes that you've committed. Were you the one responsible for
the notorious zombie spotting in this town a few years
ago?"

"Shush, let
me continue. I found out amazing new things about their biology,
and learnt fascinating new details. My lust and desire to learn
had been satisfied, and replaced with a new desire. I now had all
the necessary knowledge to… improve myself.

I realized
something during my work. I noticed something funny, which turned
my perception about the world upside-down.

You see, I
was a young man when that first outbreak started all those years
ago. I remember when the Earth was being tainted by man's blight,
and I can still recall the days where we clogged up this planet,
polluting its oceans in our billions and billions, destroying its
land, sucking its nutrients out of it like mosquitoes would to
us.

We robbed
this world of its bounty, extincting thousands of species,
murdering each other and, more importantly, the environment
around us. If not stopped, we would have destroyed all life in
the planet besides ours, and moved on to another planet to strip
it bare as well. Like a virus, destroying one man and travelling
to another, we too would destroy this planet only to a move on to
another. Infect, reproduce, and repeat, until there is nothing
left.

That's when
I discovered something. Something odd. The zombies weren't the
plague. The zombie were thecure.Wewere the
plague.Wewere the
cancer for this wonderful planet.Wewere the
tumor that resided on it, poisoning every corner of it. The
zombies fixed that, cleansing us off the Earth without killing
the animals. But their job is not complete.

A pocket of
us still remains, and if it goes unchecked it will spread again.
Like a therapy to remove a cancer, some of it will remain, and
form new tumors even worse than before. And so, I set off on my
plan- to destroy The Human Lands."

"You sick
monster…"gasped The
Keeper. I silently cried to myself, but knew I had to stop. If my
professor was serious, this wasn't the man I loved. This was
someone completely different.

"Using my
test subject, I got back to work, even harder and stronger than
before. I soon learned how to modify myself to gain the benefits
of the zombie gene without it overwriting what made me human. It
was a long shot, but it had a chance of working.

So, I
tested a modified strand of the gene on myself. Using my specific
version of this virus I managed to retain my intelligence, keep
my skin together, and achieve immortality.""It sounds
like you've watched one too many Ivanis Cravalok movies, old man.
You're going senile. What you're describing is impossible; if a
bit of the zombie gene gets into your system, it's going to take
over eventually. No matter how modified it is."

"My skin
was dead and my nerves didn't function, yet I could still think.
My teeth rotted, and while my body was essentially dead,
mymindwas still
alive. I could still think, work and move like an actual human.
The only difference was zombies would recognize me as one of
them, and wouldn't attack me. I had achieved the next logical
evolution of man. But I couldn't show this to anyone, as they'd
lock me up for being insane! So, I began experimenting on super
zombies.

Vampire
zombies were the first ones. I thought of how they could be
improved, and took a few examples from Ivanis Cravalok movies. I
removed the stiffening of the joins upon death, and, after
meticulously getting a few more test subjects I managed to get
the blood to stop coagulating and removed the stiffness of the
joins. For some zombies I simply tweaked the virus so much that
it could be considered an entirely new thing altogether. I
noticed that there were a few parts to the zombie's equation that
I could improve upon.

There was
the desire to kill, which could be skyrocketed to insane levels
with the virus. There was the hunger, which was the driving force
of the eating. The eating was essential to carry on the virus,
because there was also the form of transmission. For regular
zombies, the form of transmission is a simple bite. I realized
that I did not want this to spread; I simply wanted all humans-
with the exception of me and my lovely assistant over here-
dead.

So I
removed the transmission of the super zombies, spliced in some
more test subjects until I got about ten regular zombies,
completed with many other super zombies which I stored in my
attic, and released them upon the populace. It worked like a
charm. But I knew that if the Keepers came and killed off my
beauties before they could spread and kill enough then all my
hard work over the years would be undone. So I cut the
wires."

"There's a
reason we don't give the general public information about
zombies, but as a Keeper I know more about them then you do. So,
I'm going to let you in on some classified information, seeing as
we're probably going to execute you as soon as we get the chance,
and you've been so kind in confessing all of the horrible crimes
to me, so I find it's only fair.

Let's say,
hypothetically, that this gene transfer was possible, and you
really are a half-zombie. As soon as the gene enters your system,
no matter how modified the gene is, it will activate a nerve
impulse in your brain."

"…really?"

"Yes,
really. The impulse sends a pulse of endorphins at the sight or
feel of someone dying. It's what drives the zombie to continue
killing and killing and killing in an undying rage. In layman's
terms: it makes you addicted to murder. And this part of the gene
is literally impossible to detect, and even more so to change. So
something tells me you kidnapped and murdered those people for a
little more than just science. You have an addiction. An
insatiable urge. We've seen the effects before. And though I
doubt anything you just said is true, we still need to take it up
with the judge. Put your hands behind your back."

My
professor- or, rather, the man that used to be my professor-
grabbed a pistol from under the table and examined it
momentarily."I don't
think I'm going to do that, Mr.Keeper. I've been working on this
project for quite a while now, and I can't let you go and ruin it
like that."

"Look
around you! It's already ruined, you sick fool! Your pets are
dead; nine Keepers are probably already clearing out the town by
now! Put your hands up, and drop the gun,now!
I know the disease has tainted your brain, but surely you're not
stupid enough to think that the measly pistol you have there is
enough to kill me, a fully armed keeper with an enormous gun used
to mow down twenty zombies at a time?"

"No. But I
don't think you've been listening. And you're not fully armed,
are you? You're missing your helmet."

"That is
it!"

I was
helpless to watch as The Keeper raised his gun with two hands and
unleashed a barrage of bullets into my professor. The torrent of
lead entered his body with many sickening crashes and his flesh
dropped off here and there. When the firing subsided and the
smoke cleared, I saw only one thing.

My mouth
dropped, and so did The Keeper's. My professor was still
standing. I didn't know whether to be overjoyed or
horrified.

"Obviously,"said The
Professor, brushing off a piece of dead skin and removing a
bullet from his gut,"You didn't
listen. I am immortal. You can't kill me. You, however?"He raised
his pistol and pointed it at The Keeper's eye.
"You are quite fragile."

He fired a
single shot. It whizzed through the air and straight into his
eye. An accurate, powerful shot. The Keeper's arms jolted
forwards in pain, and his leg jumped up as he spiraled backwards,
dead on the ground. His gun fell and his hunting knife landed
beside him.

No.

NO.

This wasn't
happening. The Keeper was fine. He had to be. I ran to his side.
"No…" I whispered. "NO!"

"I'm sorry
you had to see that,"said The
Professor."But it had
to be done. We don't want anyone finding out about this little
incident, now do we?"

"What… how…
HOW COULD YOU!? HE WAS MY FRIEND!"

"My dear,
I'm offering you a choice. Join me, splice yourself with my
modified strain of virus, and ascend with me as we watch the
world flourish for an eternity without the blight of man. Or? You
have a second option."